Just Because We Felt Like It

Kings and kids. No that is not Wang Jia Sha, it was another place where Rockstar loves the vietnamese noodles – we started the weird eating time as part of Fathers Day festivity early, like, the day before

That’s what the actual Father’s Day “celebration” was – just hanging out, eating at weird times, napping at weird times (well, one of us is all spoiled about – get this- sleeping when she is tired - what’ll she think of next?), mall-crawling/people-watching, buying a big-*ss flat screen tv and playing hangman on the iPad while one of us naps because This Is What We Go To Haagen Dasz For, Ice Cream Incidental. (Rockstar had like, 20% of his berry-float-smoothie-thing because apparently Father’s Day is not a festive enough occasion to imbibe more of what he reluctantly ordered. Well, he ate the fruit garnish. No he does not get that from me because I don’t like fruit and rarely eat it).

Hang on. My elder child is ”normal”. He eats potato chips <gloat>.

Little Miss entertaining herself at the table because she didn’t like any of the stuff we were eating – when she does someday, I’ll start with a bowl of hot water to wash off excess sauce, just til her stomach is used to the sauces…

And yes I know Wang Jia Sha Shanghainese has got bad reviews on Open Rice, but I booked there anyway because when you have a baby and youngish child and want to chill in HK (in itself oxymoronic), Super Duper Hot Restaurant becomes a lot less attractive when it is insanely booked up and crowded – it was a popular mall, it was Father’s Day. It’s like I’d be going so batshit crazy rushing everyone out the door to keep the appointment time (ended up moving the reso a whole hour), keeping people from bumping the high chair or the kids entertained while we wait for our table they could serve cardboard and I probably wouldn’t notice.

THIS is Wang Jia Sha. Yes Little Miss is busy entertaining herself again. Yes she is in a similar outfit (she was in bloomer-like pants the day before, and tights here – I bought two Hot Pink Tiger shirts from Zara in different sizes, one to wear as an actual tee and the other as a t-shirt dress.)

When we used to brainstorm with RMs over products, I would say things like, “Given current interest rate environment (and various other factors) these are the features you can afford in the structure/package” and then I realized it’s kind of the same here – think about it: You have a certain amount of time when the baby is not fussing or needing to eat or nap. You need to eat. You need to feel like you are kind of celebrating an important occasion. You need to not queue and queue and queue when you’d rather mall-crawl or play games on an iPad or buy a big-*ss tv. You need to feel halfway together by not running around too much, but you also don’t want a helper along. How do you cram as much of that in optimal combination in your “package”?

To me the “package” we were going to end up with was looking a lot like Who Cares What You Eat As Long As It’s Halfway Decent And You Have Minimal Stress? It’s supposed to be a happy occasion, not We Will Lose The Table In 5 Minutes Everybody MOVEMOVEMOVE Occasion.

We will do Super Duper Hot Restaurant when the kids are like, 20. But right now, Kings likes most Chinese food, and the obsessive-compulsive in me was all Aha! A Leafy Green I Can Easily Get Into Rockstar, Just In Case Broccoli 5 Days A Week Could Possibly Be Bad because on a good day Rockstar’ll polish off almost an entire dish of chopped up leafy greens by himself at this place, with some noodle soup thing both Mens eat…)

Little Miss brandishing a chopstick (mostly taps it on table and various other objects or we would take it away from her in case she pokes herself)

…Then sleepily nibbling a rice cracker towards the end of lunch (fed her before coming out)…

Then we went to church at 5pm. If they had children’s service at the 5 o’clock we would just always be at this one, but they already have two very active children’s services at the 9.30 and 11.30… (And they were giving out Triple Os burger coupons with Bible verse, for the Dads!) Then after service when it was getting dark we decided on super-hot curry for dinner. Rockstar had roti prata with cheese, sardines and chickpea curry – he has been known to describe hot shrimp, chickpea or assam fish curries as “desert”. Nor-mal. Normal Is As Normal Does. Nobody Realizes That Some People Expend Tremendous Energy Merely To Be Normal. If all else fails bung a bunch quotes with the word “normal” in it and hope no one notices.

So dinner led to us staying out even longer, just because we felt like it.

6 words that imply pure luxury when you have a baby.

Just. Because. We Felt. Like It.

Oh, the decadence.

At some point, nap happened…

Come Monday the baby’s nap times were pretty messed up (a.k.a. non-existent) which is why I had no time to write earlier, but well it was carpe diem weekend. Totally worth it.

So on Father’s Day after we wined and dined him with dishes I cannot pronounce but do a great job of ordering by pointing at pictures, Kings went shopping for a tv. It was a freaking brilliant day. Should probably do non-events to celebrate events more often.

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About Aileen

I blog about living and raising my son in Hong Kong - where toddlers have entrance interviews, parents keep test score spreadsheets, private school debentures can trade for more than half a million USD. Raising Rockstar's the most important thing I'll ever do. We show our true colors by the choices we make in bringing up our children. My blog is a message to my toddler son, about what the world and his parents are like today - for when he becomes a teenager and knows everything.

Nice photo of the father with both Rockstars! Now that Miss Rockstar is older, all of you can go out more often. I assume she no longer cries when travelling in cars.

So when did Rockstar present his father with the gift that he made?

http://raisingrockstar.com Aileen

Rockstar was really going nuts in the morning and kept trying to wake the dad to read the book. He did everything short of kicking the dad out of bed so he would wake up and he could present it.

Little Miss doesn’t cry for the same reason in the car anymore. Not sure at what point it changed, but we’re pretty sure she cries (and she still does) because she doesn’t want to sit in the baby car seat esp as she sees the bro is not in one…

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To My Son And Daughter. For when they become teenagers who know everything. Because we show our true colors- our beliefs, our prejudices, our weaknesses, our hopes – by the choices we make in raising our rockstars. “Mummy” is an honor that ranks higher than Derivatives Structuring Head, Big Fat Investment Bank. Higher than CEO, Biggest Conglomerate Ever. ‘Cause a long time ago, even they had Mummies.